Ashley

Did you know?

A few things about Ashley you might not know, from US birth records and Wikipedia. Handy for convincing a partner, or a grandparent.

⭐ Famous Ashley

Ashley Cole

English association football player (born 1980)

Choose Ashley and your child shares a first name with Ashley Cole, an English association football player. A ready-made answer when someone asks “Ashley, like who?” Ashley Cole's Wikipedia article is available in 72 languages, a good sign of just how widely known they are.

Read about Ashley Cole on Wikipedia ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Photo: Stanislav Vedmid, CC BY-SA 3.0 (opens in a new tab), via Wikimedia Commons

• 👶How commonAbout 1 in every 879 baby girls born in the US in 2025 was named Ashley, 1,829 babies in all. In a typical school of 500 kids, your Ashley would very likely be the only one.
• 📜HistoryAshley has been in use since at least 1880, the first year US birth records were kept. That's 145 years of Ashleys, and counting.
• 🏆Best yearIt was far more popular in 1992, when it ranked #1. Today it's #164, so it could be due a comeback.
• 📉Then vs nowAshley was 8.7× more common in 2000 than it is today. In 2000 it was given to about 1 in 101 baby girls; in 2025, about 1 in 879.
• 📍Where it's lovedAshley is most popular in Florida, where it ranks #47, followed by Maryland (#69) and Texas (#86). It makes the top 1,000 in almost every state.
• 💬MeaningIn Old English, Ashley means “ash tree meadow”.
• 🌍OriginAshley is the #9 most popular Old English girl name in the US. That's out of 324 Old English girl and unisex names in our list.

About the name Ashley

Ashley is a girl name of Old English origin meaning “ash tree meadow”. It has 6 letters and 2 syllables, starting with A and ending in “-ley”. US birth records list Ashley for girls from 1917 to 2025, in 87 of those 109 years. Its best year was 1992, when it ranked #1 among girl names. In 2025 it ranked #164, with 1,829 babies.

Origin:Old English names